European Studies Concentration

The European Studies concentration provides an intellectual meeting ground for students interested in exploring Europe from a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives. Drawing courses from a number of different departments, the program in European Studies allows students to integrate their study of a European language and off-campus experiences in Europe with a coherent set of courses on campus to achieve a greater understanding of both new and old Europes.

Requirements for the Concentration

1. EUST 110: Introduction to European Studies: The Nation State in Europe

2. Four transnational supporting courses that a) approach a theme or issue from a pan-European perspective OR b) compare European countries or regions OR c) compare Europe (or parts of Europe) with another part of the world. These courses will engage in an examination of such overarching issues as the relation between individual and community, cultural and linguistic diversity, and globalization. The list below is not exhaustive; students should consult with the concentration director regarding other courses that may fulfill this requirement.

  • ARTH 101 Introduction to Art History I
  • ARTH 102 Introduction to Art History II
  • ARTH 228 The Picturesque: Landscape between Nature and Artifice
  • ARTH 236 Baroque Art
  • ARTH 240 Art Since 1945
  • ARTH 255 Islam in the Eyes of the West (not offered in 2016-17)
  • CAMS 214 Film History III
  • CCST 270 Creative Travel Writing Workshop
  • EUST 100 Allies or Enemies? America through European Eyes
  • EUST 159 "The Age of Isms" - Ideals, Ideas and Ideologies in Modern Europe
  • EUST 279 Cross Cultural Psychology in Prague: Nationalism, Minorities, Migrations
  • FREN 206 Contemporary Francophone Culture
  • FREN 255 Islam in France: Historical Approaches and Current Debates
  • FREN 259 Paris Program: Hybrid Paris
  • FREN 309 Communication and Stylistics
  • FREN 395 Middle East and French Connection
  • GERM 241 Crisis of Identity/Identity of Crisis: Introduction to German Jewish Literature and Thought
  • HIST 138 Crusades, Mission, and the Expansion of Europe (not offered in 2016-17)
  • HIST 141 Europe in the Twentieth Century
  • HIST 142 Women in Modern Europe
  • HIST 209 The Revolutionary Atlantic
  • HIST 236 Women and Gender in Europe before the French Revolution
  • HIST 238 The Viking World
  • HIST 249 Two Centuries of Tumult: Modern Central Europe
  • HIST 287 From Alchemy to the Atom Bomb: The Scientific Revolution and the Making of the Modern World
  • MUSC 211 Baroque and Classical Music
  • PHIL 272 Early Modern Philosophy
  • POSC 120 Democracy and Dictatorship
  • POSC 255 Post-Modern Political Thought
  • POSC 265 Capitalist Crises, Power, and Policy
  • POSC 268 Global Environmental Politics and Policy
  • POSC 352 Political Theory of Alexis de Tocqueville*
  • POSC 359 Cosmopolitanism*

3. Two country-specific supporting courses in the participating disciplines, each of which focuses on a particular European country or region. Country-specific courses need not address pan-European issues, but students will be expected to bring a comparative awareness of Europe to their learning experience.

  • ECON 221 Cambridge Program: Contemporary British Economy
  • ECON 222 Cambridge Program: The Origins of the Modern Economy
  • ECON 223 English Culture Between the Wars
  • ENGL 144 Shakespeare I
  • ENGL 210 From Chaucer to Milton: Early English Literature
  • ENGL 222 The Art of Jane Austen
  • ENGL 244 Shakespeare I
  • ENGL 249 Irish Literature
  • ENGL 281 Postcolonial London
  • ENGL 282 London Program: London Theater
  • ENGL 323 English Romantic Poetry
  • ENGL 327 Victorian Novel
  • FREN 204 Intermediate French
  • FREN 208 Paris Program: Contemporary France: Cultures, Politics, Society
  • FREN 233 French Cinema and Culture
  • FREN 241 The Lyric and Other Seductions
  • FREN 254 Paris Program: French Art in Context
  • FREN 259 Paris Program: Hybrid Paris
  • FREN 309 Communication and Stylistics
  • FREN 340 Arts of Brevity: Short Fiction
  • FREN 341 Madame Bovary and Her Avatars
  • FREN 351 Love, War and Monsters in Renaissance France
  • FREN 359 Paris Program: Hybrid Paris
  • FREN 395 The Mande of West Africa
  • GERM 372 The Latest--Current Themes in German Literature, Film and the Media
  • HIST 201 Rome Program: Community and Communication in Medieval Italy, CE 300-1250
  • HIST 206 Eternal City in Time: Structure, Change, and Identity
  • HIST 207 Rome Program: Roman Journal: The Traveler as Witness
  • HIST 250 Modern Germany
  • HIST 250F Modern Germany-FLAC German Trailer
  • RUSS 205 Russian in Cultural Contexts
  • RUSS 266 Dostoevsky
  • RUSS 267 War and Peace
  • RUSS 351 Chekhov
  • RUSS 395 Senior Seminar: The Cult of Stalin
  • SPAN 229 Madrid Program: Current Issues in Spanish Politics
  • SPAN 244 Spain Today: Recent Changes through Narrative and Film (not offered in 2016-17)
  • SPAN 247 Madrid Program: Spanish Art Live
  • SPAN 328 The Contemporary Spanish Fictional Essay
  • SPAN 349 Madrid Program: Theory and Practice of Urban Life

4. EUST 398: Senior Colloquium.

5. Concentrators must normally participate in an off-campus study program in Europe.

6. The overall balance of courses must include a mix of disciplines and course levels (100s, 200s, 300s). While this balance will be established for each individual student in consultation with the concentration coordinator, no more than half of the required minimum of courses may be in one department, and at least half of the required minimum of courses must be above the 100-level. The total number of credits required to complete the concentration is 45.

European Studies Courses

EUST 100 Allies or Enemies? America through European Eyes During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, America often served as a canvass for projecting European anxieties about economic, social and political modernization. Admiration of technological progress and political stability was combined with a pervasive anti-Americanism, which was, according to political scientist Andrei Markovits, the "lingua franca" of modern Europe. These often contradictory perceptions of the United States were crucial in the process of forming national histories and mythologies as well as a common European identity. Accordingly, this course will explore the many and often contradictory views expressed by Europe's emerging mass publics and intellectual and political elites about the United States during this period. 6 credits; AI, WR1, IS; Fall; Paul Petzschmann
EUST 110 The Nation State in Europe This course explores the role of the nation and nationalism within modern Europe and the ways in which ideas and myths about the nation have complemented and competed with conceptions of Europe as a geographic, cultural and political unity. We will explore the intellectual roots of nationalism in different countries as well as their artistic, literary and musical expressions. In addition to examining nationalism from a variety of disciplinary perspectives--sociology, anthropology, history, political science--we will explore some of the watershed, moments of European nationalism such as the French Revolution, the two world wars, and the Maastricht treaty. 6 credits; HI, IS; Winter; Paul Petzschmann
EUST 159 "The Age of Isms" - Ideals, Ideas and Ideologies in Modern Europe "Ideology" is perhaps one of the most-used (and overused) terms of modern political life. This course will introduce students to important political ideologies and traditions of modern Europe and their role in the development of political systems and institutional practices from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. We will read central texts by conservatives, liberals, socialists, anarchists and nationalists while also considering ideological outliers such as Fascism and Green Political Thought. In addition the course will introduce students to the different ways in which ideas can be studied systematically and the methodologies available. 6 credits; SI, IS; Spring; Paul Petzschmann
EUST 249 The European Union from Constitution to Crisis It has become commonplace to say that Europe is in crisis – yet what does that mean? It is difficult to overestimate the importance of crises considering that the European Union played a large part in overcoming Europe’s “Long Civil War” between 1914 and 1945. The collective decision-making processes created by European treaties are often credited with bringing peace and prosperity to Europe. Yet they have also instituted idiosyncracies, asymmetries and inequities that stand in the way of solving the continent’s most pressing problems. We will examine decision-making processes in the European Union and the much-debated “democratic deficit” of its institutions. These debates about the foundations of the Union will be rounded off by an overview and brief history of Euroscepticism. The course will include a discussion of a number of case studies that confront member states of the European Union across the board: the reconstruction of the welfare state, immigration and the refugee crisis, and the rise of the far right.  6 credits; SI, IS; Winter; Paul Petzschmann
EUST 279 Cross Cultural Psychology in Prague: Nationalism, Minorities, Migrations In this course students will be introduced to the complex phenomena of migration, nationalism, and the formation of ethnic minorities in modern Europe through theory and historical examples. among the topics covered will be European attitudes and policies toward minorities (including Jews, Roma, Muslims, and Africans) and the responses of those minorities to them from assimilation to dual identity to nationalism. 6 credits; HI, IS; Fall; Ken Abrams
EUST 398 Senior Colloquium Culminates in a final oral presentation that will allow concentrators to synthesize and reflect upon their diverse European studies, including on-campus and off-campus classwork, internships, and cross-cultural experiences. 2 credits; NE; Spring; Paul Petzschmann